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Jess Kerber From Way Down Here tbd (June '25) |
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Peter and Kerry You, Me and the Moon tbd (June '25) |
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Whitney's Playland Long Rehearsal tbd (June '25) |
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William Tyler Time Indefinite tbd (Apr '25) |
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upsammy Open Catalyst tbd (March '25) |
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Jolie Laide Creatures tbd (Apr '25) |
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Vioflesh Nostalgia tbd (May '25) |
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Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke Tall Tales tbd (May '25) |
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Moin Belly Up tbd (May '25) |
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Anja Churchill Children of the North tbd (May '25) |
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The Vernon Spring Under a Familiar Sun tbd (May '25) |
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Nicole Lawrence Time In Love tbd (May '25) |
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Maia Friedman Goodbye Long Winter Shadow tbd (May '25) |
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Gazella Gazella - Gazella Vias tbd (May '25) |
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Kilynn Lunsford Promiscuous Genes tbd (May '25) |
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Taj Mahal & Keb Mo Room on the Porch tbd (May '25) |
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Sinemis Farewell tbd (May '25) |
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GIGI FM Virgo Space Acid tbd (May '25) |
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Home Is Where Hunting Season tbd (May '25) |
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The Bird's Companion A Place Outside of Time From Bandcamp: “Another winner on whitelabrecs, Casey van Wensem builds hushed symphonies from gentle piano and barely-there acoustic guitar.” This is nice new classical, mellow piano music. Something you might imagine them playing at an old folk home … and we say that in a respectful manner. Spin this on a rainy Sunday afternoon when you can lounge around and read a book or relax. (May '25)  |
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Jason Beiler And The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra Where Dreams Go To Die tbd (May '25) |
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Sophia Kennedy Squeeze Me tbd (May '25) |
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ganavya Nilam Bandcamp says “The new record from the NYC-born, Tamil Nadu-raised artist is deeply spiritual, rich and moving.” Boy, you can say that again. Two songs into the album and we’re captivated, it’s outstanding. We need to dig deeper. Co-produced by Nils Frahm (if you forgot him, go back and listen to “Ode” off 2015’s Solo to remind yourself why you live life) at LEITER Studio in Berlin’s Funkhaus complex. Song for Sad Times is the highlight on a release that’s perfect for late night listening in its entirety. (May '25)  |
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Wave District Take Our Keys Away tbd (May '25) |
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Kira Hummen Her Legacy tbd (May '25) |
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Ty Segall Possession (May '25) |
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Amy Millan I Went To Find You tbd (May '25) |
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The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus Rumours of Angels In case you were sleeping during their first 40 years – or perhaps not born yet – this is a reissue of a compilation album that spans a good amount of ground – from 1990 to 2015ish. Besides having a fantastically catchy name, the group is known for their fusion of folk, sacred music, industrial, and ambient sounds. Their work incorporates Christian imagery and draws inspiration from Eastern Orthodox traditions, creating a “unique and contemplative listening experience.” Imagine a lot of This Mortal Coil with some additional lugubrious heaviness a la Anna von Hausswolff and a little Akron/Family covering rhythm on tribal drums. "She Moved Through The Fair" is our pick for best song here, but this is probably best listened to start to end for the mood rather than any one song. (May '25) |
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Only Now Timeslave III tbd (May '25) |
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Ezra Furman Goodbye Small Head We flagged this one because Bella Union is a fantastic label and we're going to listen to everything they put out. While we're relatively new to Chicago artist Ezra Furman, she is not new on the scene with this being her tenth studio album! She describes it "an orchestral emo prog-rock record sprinkled with samples." Like Youth Lagoon, this is also a release where the vocal can sound like they're coming from either a male or a female at different times. (May '25)  |
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Now Now Does The Trick From bandcamp: “Stylishly shabby power pop from San Francisco's ever-fertile neu Paisley Underground scene.” This stuff has a lo-fi feel to some of the twee pop coming out in the late 90s and early 00s mixed with a little early 60s la la la type songs. This would be a fun band to see at the Kilowatt or Thee Parkside. (May '25) |
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Coffin Prick Enchantment Recorded at his home studio, Pancho’s Dome, Coffin Prick’s -- the moniker of Los Angeles-based musician Ryan Weinstein—latest album features eleven tracks that blend experimental rock, art-pop, and electronic elements. We like this album, mostly … but we realize that may be due more to how much it reminds us of Brian Eno’s Another Green World than the song writing here. When Prick sings here, it’s in a very Enoesque deadpan vocal style, double tracked and dripping with reverb. The instrumentals are pretty good here as well, incorporating field recordings, with many layers of synths and sounds to create journeys that run the gamut from slightly annoying to meditative. Weinstein collaborated with artists such as Steven Brown (Tuxedomoon), Alejandro Salazar-Dyer (Rincs), Kathy Lea (Soft Location), John Herndon (Tortoise), and Aaron Fernandez Olson (LA Takedown) and we suspect there might have been Talking Heads and other 80s synth band influences in that group. While we can’t say we’re going to be spinning a song or two on our heavy rotation, it’s a very interesting album that we have no problem listening to. (May '25) |
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Liftin Sprits & DJ Persuasion Transmission 96 From bandcamp: “An electrifying collab LP between jungle pioneer Liftin Spirits and DJ Persuasion, who was influenced by him.” This is a nice release. Some good techno and drums and bass here. (May '25) |
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Elsie Lange The Normal Discontents From bandcamp: “The Melbourne artist combines slackened guitar tones and dreamy vocals with stirring, R&B-inflected instrumentals.” While nothing is really popping out with us here, this is a decent little Sunday afternoon listen. "Mend" is the best tune on this album. (May '25) |
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Car Seat Headrest Scout From bandcamp: “The first new record from Car Seat Headrest in five years, self-produced by Will Toledo, roars back with an expansive, emotional sound.” To us it sort of sounds like Car Seat Headrest is growing up into big arena rock band. We think “Lady Gay Approximately” – probably the most unlikely song on this album to be played at an arena rock show – is the best in show here. (May '25) |
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Broncho Natural Pleasure Nice new release from Broncho -- their first one in five years! -- that retains the Tulsa bands straight-forward simple rock and roll sound. Fuzzy guitar, simple driving bass and beats and Ryan Lindsey's unsure but not shinking voice. "Funny" is our pick for best song on the release. (Apr '25) |
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Broncho Just Enough Hip to Be Woman While we were checking out Broncho's latest release, we dipped into the back catalog to spin and revisit this one. When you make one of the best pop and rock anthems that no one outside of Tulsa has ever heard -- and to be clear, we are talking about Easy Way Out on 2018's Bad Behavor -- you deserve frequent revisits to the back catelog. Good thing too as the quirky "Class Historian" definitely shone through. (Sept '14) |
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Lea Maria Fries CLEO From bandcamp: “Equally beautiful and weird, the music from Swiss singer Lea Maria Fries interpolates jazz with jumpy experimental elements.” We’re not so crazy about the parts of this that swerve into jazzy improv, but we love the beautifully weird stuff. This is right in our “Northern European Winter Girls” playlist vibe. (Apr '25) |
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Linying Swim, Swim From bandcamp: “Los Angeles-via-Singapore artist Linying makes beguiling pop music informed by her deep familiarity with classical Chinese music.” We’re hearing a couple of strings being plucked on the erhu (these things only have a couple – like 2 - stings right?) way way in the back of the mix here. Other than that, this is more LA produced pop rock than it is classical or anything Chinese related musically. It’s good in that Chappell Roan sort of way. We’ll have “Blondie” on “Donovan” on our heavy rotation for the summer. (Apr '25) |
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Sleigh Bells Bunky Becky Birthday Boy From NYTimes: “Sleigh Bells, the duo of Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, have just released their sixth album, “Bunky Becky Birthday Boy.” Like the rest of their catalog, the new album is a recombinant bash, slamming together selected elements of loud and louder styles — punk, metal, grunge, hip-hop, electro, glam, garage-rock — with the suddenness of digital edits.” We think this is big brash pop rock, a la No Doubt after they made it big … but without a vocalist that is as dynamic as Gwen Stefani. Not something we’ll have on heavy rotation but we wouldn’t be surprised to see these guys selling out big arenas and rocking out This Summer on tour over the summer. Perhaps this year’s festival darlines? (Apr '25)  |
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DJ Koze Music Can Hear Us From pitchfork: “Stefan Kozalla is a peerless figure in a crowded field. Once the enfant terrible of Hamburg’s Golden Pudel club, the German producer made his name in the early aughts with an idiosyncratic take on the bold colors and broad strokes of storied minimal-techno imprint Kompakt. He released one of the subgenre’s definitive late-period records on his own label—which became a fantastical sandbox for friends and fellow weirdos—then transcended it entirely on 2018’s Knock Knock, one of those Technicolor albums that renders real life sepia-toned by comparison.” We’re love Pure Love, the collaboration with Damon Albarn here. (Apr '25) |
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Tamara Qaddoumi The Murmur tbd (Apr '25) |
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Saba and No ID From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID Pitchfork says “Saba and producer No ID collaborate for a master class in melodic rap that harnesses ’90s sampledelia, ’00s neo-soul, and the singsong lyricism of 2010s Chicago.” We say nice hip/hop album here, as you might expect from Saba. "Every Painting Has a Price" featuring BJ The Chicago Kid & Eryn Allen Kane blends in some soul/R&B beats for probably the best song on the disc. (Mar '25) |
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The Lewis Express Doo-Ha! From bandcamp: “Inspired by the Northern soul of yesteryear, the Leeds group showcase smoldering melodies alongside an unstoppable rhythm section.” We dig listening to improv jazz. This has some of that feel, aforementioned rhythm section driving it, but it also seems sort of trying to blend elements of funk, R&B, and pop featuring the flute pretty predominately. That’s a little too much for us. (Mar '25) |
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8ULENTINA Surpassing Disaster “Abstract club music meets Middle Eastern orchestral and folk traditions on the full-length from Brooklyn producer and artist 8ULENTINA.” We were hoping for more of the Middle Eastern orchestral folk tunes than the experimental club music. Unfortunately the album is more of the later. (Mar '25) |
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Crush of Souls Lezire Charles Rowell (Crocodiles, Flowers of Evil, Issue) channels a ton of 80s influences and wraps them into a neat package in this one. Listen to “Souls Apart” … where do I know that main lick you’re probably thinking to yourself? Now go put on Frieda’s 1982 hit “I Know There’s Something Going On” Ah ha you say (no pun intended :-)! But the lick is lowered by a key or two before the Bauhaus meets Sisters of Mercy singing starts.”The Pure Weapon” hits the dusty 80s file drawer in the back of our brain with synapses that light the place up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center on Dec 24. Is that some Dead or Alive You Spin Me Round? Some Great Reward era Depeche Mode? And “Call Your Dealer’s” moody sax-laden slow build up would make “Infected” / “Mind Bomb” era-Matt Johnson of The The jealous as hell. (Mar '25) |
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Sharp Pins Radio DDR From Pitchfork: “Lifeguard’s Kai Slater bottles the feeling of youthful, lovestruck invincibility with enough scream-a-long hooks and artful riffs that his second album feels like a greatest-hits collection.” This is like LoFi Beatles. Or, like the Beatles back when they were LoFi and before that crazy psychedelic stuff. “Lorelei” is the go to song on this album we think. We also love how the band uses the tag "teenbeat" to describe the sounds. They'd definitely get invited to play Tom Guido's Purple Onion is it were still kicking. (Mar '25) |
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YHWH Nailgun 45 Pounds Pitchfork writes “On their outstanding debut, the New York-based experimental rockers show up fully formed with vision, presence, and possibility.” Kinetic, frenetic with seemingly everything including the kitchen pots and pans on percussion, this one bounces while lyrics are yelled over it. (Mar '25)  |
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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Gift Songs From Pitchfork: “The ambient experimental musician’s latest record is cohesive, fluid, and egoless. Using an almost entirely acoustic palette, he and his collaborators channel an abiding sense of mystery.” There are five gentle ambient songs here, three of them playing around the same musical themes. It’s soft contemplative music for a rainy indoor Sunday spent cuddling with the cat and napping. (Mar '25) |
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Hekla Turnar From bandcamp: “The Icelandic artist weaves theremin, cello, and pipe organ into vast, melancholic pastorals.” We generally like dark ambient but there are others we like better ... including a bunch of recently released stuff we've just reviewed. Read on... (Mar '25) |
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Sven Laux The Undefined Feeling of Discomfort From bandcamp: “Cellos and pianos blend on the latest from Sven Laux to sculpt gorgeous, slow-moving glaciers of sound that soothe and inspire.” We’re digging this dark ambient meets modern classical music release. (Mar '25) |
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Puce Moment Puce Moment Back to back to back dark ambient - we see a theme here. Well, given that the end of 2024 crashed and burned for us with disasters on many levels, sure, bring it on. Although the artist positions it as “an immersive experience bringing the ancient traditional Japanese music of Gagaku into dialogue with electronic music,” we’re sticking with dark ambient. This is some good late night music with which to summon up demons and scare small children. And if the 11 minute decent into pure madness of the second song Batu wasn't enough for you, there's an equally as creepy video. Did we mention, this is excellent shit? The perfect soundtrack for writing appeals to FEMA for disaster relief assistance - yeah, we know. (Mar '25) |
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Whatever the Weather Whatever the Weather II From Pitchfork: “By narrowing its focus to muted synth pads and minimalist arrangements, the second LP from Loraine James’ ambient-leaning produces some of the most direct, spontaneous music in her catalog.” We like the temperature themed song tiles, but are not as crazy about bleeps and blips ambient as we are our dark ambient. (Mar '24) |
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Franc Moody Chewing The Fat This caught our eye as it was a new one recorded at Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 so we decided to give it a spin. It’s a nice synthpop release. We've got Square Pegs in Round Holes, The Light You Bring, and Going Through the Motions in our heavy rotation. (Mar '25) |
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Arny Margret I Miss You, I Do From bandcamp: “Backed by an all-star team of American producers, the Icelandic artist ditches minimalism for elegant, pastoral folk rock.” Yeah, we couldn’t tell Arny was from Iceland. Might as well have been from Nashville by her sound. It’s good, albeit not mind-blowingly so, Americana for easy listening afternoons. (Mar '24) |
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Hamilton Leithauser Knockin Heart From Lindsay@NYTimes: “As anyone who’s ever heard the Walkmen’s coiled-up classic “The Rat” can tell you, Hamilton Leithauser is adept at singing with intense desperation. He taps into a similar vein on this solo album.” We think this is a decent album. (Mar '25) |
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Fust Big Ugly From bandcamp: “The North Carolina band pair easy-rolling country-rock arrangements with narratively rich character studies set in the American South.” Although no song really sticks out, we really like this slow rolling Americana / country. (Mar '25) |
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Ingrown Idaho From bandcamp: “The Idaho crushers take straight-edge hardcore to scorching, animalistic extremes on their most accomplished release yet.” We appreciated the heavy guitar and growling, but found it a little too banal for repeated listening. The song “Idaho” thought is a complete non-sequitur on the album, breaking out the acoustic guitar, dulcimer and mandolin for a tune right at home played by the fire in an Irish pub circa the 1400s. It’s the best tune on the album. (Mar '25) |
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Zoe Mc Pherson Upside Down From bandcamp: “The French-Irish sound artist, presently based in Berlin, engineers heartfelt, optimistic techno-pop for uncertain times.” We’re not sure how pop this techno-pop is, maybe more techno-experimental to our ears. (Mar '25) |
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Pale Blue Eyes New Place bandcamp: “The UK outfit unfurl stunning, slow-rolling psychedelia soundscapes with flickers of ’90s Britpop and shoegaze.” We’re definitely hearing the 90s alternative in this one. Songs like “The Dreamer” seems like they could have come directly from Ocean Blue or Trashcan Sinatras. (Mar '25) |
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Lucy Dacus Forever is a Feeling From Pitchfork: “On her new solo album, the songwriter and Boygenius alum makes an impassioned, all-in gamble on love. So why does the music feel hamstrung by caution and daintiness?.” We’re also not particularly blown away by this. (Mar '25) |
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Split Moon More Clouds More Stars From bandcamp: “Hypnotic, syrupy space rock with anthemic choruses and even bigger riffs.” We’re okay with this stoner rock release. (Mar '25) |
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SOFY Another Day In Paradise From bandcamp: “The London artist bursts out the gate with an anthemic indie-pop record buoyed by bright tones, summery hooks, and crisp percussion.” When you’ve gotten your fix of Sabrina Carpenter and Chapel Roan but are still looking for more, SOFY is for you. (Mar '25) |
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Summer Pearl The Interlude From bandcamp: “High art R&B from Summer Pearl in seven songs marked by beguilingly twisting structures and hypnotic melodies.” The Creator is a standout on this album, with some clever rapping over a killer beat. (Mar '25) |
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Vil Moons From bandcamp: “The Icelandic duo return with a slate of ‘musical paintings’ that elevate shortform sketches into stirring minimal-synth vistas.” We liked the sonic vistas and a lot of the songs grabbed us as well. (Mar '25) |
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Unknown Mortal Orchestra IC-02 Bogota The latest from New Zealand musician Ruban Nielson’s globe-trotting series, as Pitchfork as put it, “taps into a cosmic, extroverted energy, highlighting his band’s virtuosity in a set of psychedelic jams.” We can see that on some indulgent instrumentals that might be what Jazz looks like when mashed up against some generic EDM with bleeps and bits thrown in for good measure. (Mar '25)  |
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Velvet Bloom Velvet Bloom From bandcamp: “The Melbourne artist and her band make a stellar first impression with a buoyant debut combining folk, funk, soul and indie rock.” This is a nice debut, skirting between jazz, funk and pop but never going too far into one of those genres. (Mar '25) |
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Liv Solveig Nordic Coastline It's be fair we have a liking for strong female singer and her piano set in lush orchestration with strings. Agnes Obel anyone? It's really well produced and songs like Words almost get there for us, but we're just not connecting with the songwriting or something on this one. (Mar '25) |
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aya hexed! From Pitchfork: “Sound bristles, foams, bursts, and oozes as the UK artist’s daring second album confronts the terrifying crush of reality. It feels like witchcraft; maybe it is” We appreciate the freshness and experimentation here. We’re not likely to have it on any of our playlists though. (Mar '25) |
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Perfume Genius Glory We've been giant fans of Perfume Genius, the moniker of Seattle-based artist Mike Hadreas, since the first two sparse and understated albums that mostly featured frail Mike, his piano and his TASCAM (at least in our imagination). The production here, like the 4 or 5 albums before it, are anything but sparse pieces captured on a four track recorder. But while more glitter and pop/rock structures abound, they are still laden down with a sort of that Perfume Genius dark moodiness. So it still surprises us, as we belly up to the bar at the packed Fillmore before Hadreas and co. are about to take the stage, that so many people were here. We had a crew of seven, a mixure of old and new friends. We know how the old friends discovered the band (ahem, polishes fingernails on his shirt,) but how about the newbies? So we ask, "how long have you been Perfume Genius fans? A recent find or were you listening to his old dark, lo-fi slit-your-wrist albu..." Before we can finish the sentence, one of the girls blurts out - "oh the original dark early albums. Loved them. We constantly listened to them in college." While this might be Purfume Genius' most polished album to date--and we absolutely LOVE the collaboration with Aldus Harding here--if you're new to the band, we might suggest that you start with the first album. (Mar '25) |
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Japanese Breakfast For Melancholy Brunettes From Pitchfork: “Michelle Zauner’s lovely, pensive, capital-R Romantic fourth album takes a step back from autobiography to examine the performances and peril of fame itself.” We’re never been the biggest fans of Japanese Breakfast. Mind you, they make pleasant tunes, but nothing that really stuck out to us though. But on this release … maybe it was the Jeff Bridges duet on our favorite topic, Men in Bars, or perhaps it was the extremely beautiful “Orlando in Love” and the uncanny release of that song at the same time long-time tunefilter contributor Big O passes away. But this one is hitting is differently. We approve. (Mar '25) |
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Water Margin Gleaming Cursed This is Vancouver-based emo band Water Margin's debut album. The album draws heavily from 1990s emo and post-hardcore influences, featuring thick basslines, dueling guitars, and dynamic drum patterns. We weren't so crazy about it and will stick to the stuff from the actual 1990s. (Mar '25) |
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Jeremy Bradley Earl Four Songs This one is the debut EP from Jeremy Bradley Earl, the New York-based frontman of psychedelic folk-rock band Woods. We like Woods and their sort of straight-forward catchy indie rock tunes. This EP blends folk and rock elements, offering a more introspective and stripped-down sound compared to Earl's work with Woods. It's also very good. (Mar '25) |
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Good Block Window Good Block is the debut album from a London-based producer and DJ duo that spans recordings from 2017 to 2024. The album showcases a fusion of acid, ambient, electro, and global influences, reflecting their eclectic musical journey. All tracks were written, mixed, and designed by the duo in their London studios, embodying their DIY ethos and commitment to artistic integrity. While we're not in love with it -- the synch flute gets to be too much at times -- it's not that bad. (Mar '25) |
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Masha Qrella Songbook From bandcamp: “Classics by Whitney Houston, Queen, Saint Etienne, and others get the minimalist folk treatment on the artist and composer's sixth LP.” We liked the cover of Queen’s I Want To Break Free. However, our like of this probably has more to do with how much we like the original than it does is loving this version. (Mar '25) |
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Yo La Tengo Old Joy From Pitchfork: “The score for Kelly Reichardt's 2006 drama, written by the indie-rock veterans and session guitarist Smokey Hormel, captures the magisterial doldrums of an American road trip in countrified krautrock.” The six instrumental tracks, recorded in a single afternoon at Yo La Tengo’s studio in Hoboken, carry that unmistakable Yo La Tengo sound. Sounds like a great roadtrip soundtrack piece to us. (Feb '25) |
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Fennesz The Last Days of May From Pitchfork: “As part of the boutique label’s final crop of releases, the Austrian experimental musician strips back and stretches out, exploring the nuances of his guitar in real time.” We got turned on the Fennesz back with his 2008 release Black Seas as the housing crash of 08 was still weighing on the nation. Flying from CA into Philadelphia or JFK, arriving on dark Monday, arriving around midnight in the middle of winter, we’d stare out the taxi window as the dead industrial parts of town flashed by. Black Seas (or Christopher Bissonnette’s Periphery) would be playing on our headphones. This dark ambient music was the absolutely perfect soundtrack for that experience. On this one, an album of one 24 minute song, the end of the world mood starts after 10 minutes of gental, sparse guitar plucking. Then it dissolves into Fennesz’s dystopian, machines are taking over the world while you sleep sound. We love it. (Feb '25) |
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Meagre Martin Up To Snuff From bandcamp: “Sludgy, chaotic punk meets simple, sweet indie-rock choruses on the Berlin band's new EP.” We think this sort of lands like 90s female led pop rock. Think The Sundays or The Cardigans. (Feb '25) |
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Ichiko Aoba Luminescent Creatures Pitchfork writes: "Inspired by creatures she encountered diving in the waters off a remote island, the Japanese singer-songwriter’s understated, beautiful album explores liminal worlds through softly textured ambient folk.“ This is a nice, easy listen…somewhere between ambient and indie folk with a Japanese vibe. (Feb '24) |
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Paraframe Metropolis From bandcamp: “The latest from Hamburg producer Paraframe is a dark pop wonder—steely synths and driving rhythms with haunting vocal tracks.” We agree, this is really good house. (Feb '25) |
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Optometry Lemuria From bandcamp: “L.A. pop duo write misty, mirage-like synthpop songs with elegant vocal melodies.” We think there’s better stuff out there. (Feb '25) |
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Squid Crispy Skin We're not fans of Squid's third album here. If you're looking for a post-punk romper that can get a little heavy but has sme buoyant bass lines, jaunty keyboards and energetic yelps from the lead singer, this may be your cup of tea. (Feb '25) |
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Sharon van Etten – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory Sharon van Etten – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, based in Los Angeles, released their self-titled debut album on February 7, 2025, through Jagjaguwar. This project marks a significant evolution for Van Etten, transitioning from her solo career to a collaborative band dynamic. The album showcases a darker, dreamlike edge, blending post-punk influences with intimate, personal lyrics. Tracks like "Afterlife" exemplify the band's immersive sound, characterized by swirling motifs and a focus on groove and mood. We like the mellow Fading Beauty as the top pick here. (Feb '25) |
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Panda Bear Sinister Grift This is the eighth studio album for Panda Bear, the solo project of Noah Lennox. Recorded at his Estudio Campo in Lisbon, Portugal, the album marks his first solo release in five years and features contributions from all members of Animal Collective. We are loving this release, imagining hints of Beach Boys mixed with some Latin vibes in a very approachable indie rock package. It's only February but this is our pick for signature album of the Summer of 2025 (Feb '25) |
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Youth Lagoon Rarely Do I Dream Youth Lagoon's latest album, Rarely Do I Dream, draws inspiration from rediscovered family home videos, blending personal memories with Western myth to create a vivid sonic collage. Based in Boise, Idaho, Trevor Powers showcases his evolution as a storyteller, transitioning from introspective themes to narrative-driven songs featuring eclectic characters. Produced alongside Rodaidh McDonald, the album’s rich and varied sound incorporates guitar work by longtime collaborator Erik Eastman and a dynamic rhythm section, all unified by Powers' distinctive, emotive vocals. We really like this album, putting Football, Lucy Takes a Picture and My Beautiful Girl in heavy rotation. (Feb '24) |
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Charlie Needs Braces NYAA WA From bandcamp: “An album about self-care and self-preservation, the latest from Charlie Needs Braces is full of feathery, effervescent pop.” We agree on the feathery, effervescent pop description … which is perhaps a little too much for us to have on heavy rotation. That said, “Millowl”, a little more experimental instrumental is a really good song. (Feb '25) |
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Horsegirl Phonetics On and On From Lindsay@NYTimes when describing the song “2468” from this release: “Here it is, the late-breaking entry on my songs of the year list! I am a sucker for anything that sounds even a little bit like the great post-punk band the Raincoats, and this sing-songy tune, from the Chicago group Horsegirl's forthcoming second LP, “Phonetics On and On,” fits the bill perfectly. Warning: This song will get stuck in your head.” We also like Horsegirl’s raw post-punk meets Camper Van Beethoven sounds, but, as always, we’ll disagree with Lindsay on which song is the best on this release. We’re going with “Well I Know You’re Shy.” Try both yourself and see which you prefer. (Feb '25) |
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Kathryn Mohr Waiting Room We were sort of excited by Pitchfork’s take on this “…Oakland songwriter and field recordist’s sinister, atmospheric full-length debut is all the more unnerving for its quiet, ticking-time-bomb intensity.” But we got quickly disappointed when listening to a release where the vocals are so mopey they get lost and muddled in the mix… and “the mix” only includes said vocs plus one guitar. (Jan '25) |
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Daneshevskaya Kermit & Gyro Picked this up after reading Lindsay@NYTimes review of the new single. Daneshevskaya is the songwriting project of New York City’s Anna Beckerman. Her artist name, also her great-grandmother’s last name, calls back to her Russian-Jewish familial roots from her home base in New York. The name conjures a world of romance and unknowns, and as Daneshevskaya, Beckerman crafts artful, haunting songs that only ever reveal themselves halfway before she spins the wheel again. (Jan '24) |
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The Weather Station Humanhood We can usually count on a really good track or two from any new The Weather Station release. The beauty of the songs are usually subtle and understated, as we imagine Tamara Lindeman, who leads the Toronto-based project, to be in real life … that is, when she’s not on her soapbox about climate change. So the albums often take a bit of listening to get to those couple of gems. This one doesn’t reward repeated listens with a solid melody that sticks in your head though. It’s more about generating and maintaining a mellow and consistent mood throughout the entire release. (Jan '25) |
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Tunng Tunng – Love You All Over Again Tunng's latest album, Love You All Over Again, marks a delightful return to their signature folktronica sound after a five-year hiatus. Reuniting as a six-piece, the band blends pastoral folk themes with gentle electronica and surrealist humor, reminiscent of their early work. We like tunng and we like this album. That said, let’s face it, their last album, 2020’s “Tunng Presents … Dead Club” hitting in the think of the pandemic is a near impossible piece to follow up on. We like listening to this album, then go and put on Dead Club, play it end to end, and marvel at how such as amazing piece of art was created. (Jan '25) |
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Olivia Wolf Silver Bullet Wow, we’re really proud of Olivia. Nice job, we love it! Looks like the move from SF/Sonoma to Nashville has paid off. We were looking forward to this release since we drank some whiskey with her and Taylor McCall at HSBG 2023, but were admittedly confused as 2024 seemingly brought more Instagram photos than music. But boom, album drops in Jan 2025 and it’s a beautiful country rocker. There’s steel pedal right next to Hammond B3, crunchy guitars next to banjos. Rockers right next to beautiful ballads like “The Veil”, our favorite on this release. One of our tunefilter colleagues is hearing some Shania Twain. Way different than lil sis Avery’s sounds with Ismay but it looks like the talent runs deep in the family. Which, of course we long-time HSBG attendees and fans of Warren Hellman already know. (Jan '25) |
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C Duncan It's Only A Love Song C Duncan's fifth album, It's Only A Love Song, showcases the Scottish composer and musician’s signature romanticism through lush orchestral arrangements and cinematic compositions. Drawing inspiration from artists like Scott Walker and The Carpenters, as well as film scores by Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein, Duncan crafts a collection that evokes the grandeur of classic Hollywood musicals. Alluvium, his previous album and his first release for one of our favorite labels, Bella Union, blew us away. We sort of didn’t know what to make of it. This isn’t really indie rock, it’s not pop and nowhere near RnB. Seem like it comes off like show tunes, but not really. Maybe what the big band orchestras playing to the dinner party crowds in the 40s and 50s might do if that was still a thing today with synths and samples. We loved Allumium, which perhaps created a little too high of expectations for this one. Perhaps it’s also due to the album title, but the “love song” sort of campiness seems to come on too strong here at times. (Jan '25) |
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The Cure Songs of a Lost World These are nicely produced songs but we can’t seem to get past Robert Smith’s vocals, which still sound exactly like they did when we were listening to the band back in the 1980s. Back then that slightly off-key winey, nasally sound seemed right for a underground band. Now though, with a full scale production behind them it seems a little out of place, not to mention dated. (Nov '24) |
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Central Cee Can’t Rush Greatness From Lindsay@NYTimes: ”Central Cee — the British MC who broke into the mainstream in 2023 with “Sprinter,” a nimble collaboration with fellow rapper Dave — teams up with the Puerto Rican rising star Young Miko on this highlight from Cee’s recently released debut LP “Can’t Rush Greatness.” As my colleague Jon Caramanica noted, perfectly describing the appeal of Cee’s signature flow, “Tossed-off triple-syllable rhymes delivered like casual chitchat are just part of what makes Central Cee so effective.” (Jan '25) |
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Fievel Is Glauque Rong Weickness From The Quietus: “Flute plays a dominant role on Rong Weicknes, mostly setting a playful tone and occasionally bringing drama with its cascades of sound." We’re calling it schizophrenic French jazz-pop or art-rock. (Oct '24) |
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Plastic Estate Code d’Amour This Cardiff Wales based band caught our eye as they were playing The Lexington in London when we were in town. They are channeling some Thompson Twins and Ah Ha with the mellow 80s pop rock vibes. We’re really enjoying some of the songs here. (Oct '24) |
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Oranssi Pazuzu Muuntautuja From The Quietus: “Muuntautuja, the title of Oranssi Pazuzu’s sixth album, is Finnish for ‘shapeshifter’, a simple phrase that so elegantly describes the band’s bizarre sound that it’s a wonder they haven’t used it before. Starting out as a particularly adventurous avant-garde black metal band, their sound has gradually morphed into increasingly unrecognisable shapes on subsequent releases, with the progressive black metal of 2013’s Valonielu blossoming into full-blown space rock madness on 2016’s breakthrough Värähtelijä, stepping far beyond the confines of even the most out-there black metal acts to deliver some of the most genuinely disorientating psychedelia to ever emanate from a metal band.” We think disorientating psychedelia is a good way to put it. We’re digging it. (Oct '24) |
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Róis Mo Léan From The Quietus: “With its bursts of crystalline electronics, darkwave-inflected synths, quaking basslines, industrial beats, tolls-for-thee bell chimes and cold vocal distortions, there is plenty of gloom to be found on Mo Léan, and yet this is only one small part of the record’s emotional scope. For a powerful and shapeshifting vocalist like Róis, real name Rose Connolly, death can be a time of unvarnished beauty, too – explored best on her deeply moving rendition of the hymn ‘Oh Lovely Appearance Of Death’, where her voice cuts sharply through drifting ambient backing – and even of humour; on ‘Death Notices’, she plays the role of a newsreader, their broadcast bookended by a warped theme tune, announcing in deadpan that sadly, today there are no death notices at all. It’s one of a series of short interludes across the record – the rest of which are called ‘Angelus’ after the devotional bells broadcast on Irish television and radio at 6pm each day, directly before the evening news – where the record’s incredibly deft touches of production are best felt.” Mostly ambient or experimental type background sounds, but with some darkly beautiful times such as in ”Oh Lovely Appearance of Death”. (Oct '24) |
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Fergus Jones Ephemra From The Quietus: “Fergus Jones’ previous work, mostly under the now-shelved Perko alias, has often had a meditative, downtempo bent to it, his productions frequently suited to the warm-up and cool-down hours of a club night, or the hazy comedown of the afters. On his debut album, Ephemera, he takes that angle to further, brilliant depths.” This is enjoyable not just for before or after the club, but nice quiet evenings as well. (Oct '24) |
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Ka The Thief Next to Jesus We like the church has been about controlling his community theme Ka is touching on ... and we love the old school, 50s style samples in the background. However, his delivery gets a little monotonely repetitive too often to really hold our interest. (Oct '24) |
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Moin You Never End From The Quietus: “Moin’s third full-length record sees a sharp retooling of their arsenal, as they fundamentally alter the way they use the human voice. The album is rife with collaborations. Where before samples were murky, ambiguous and hard to place, the vocals here are the result of different artists and writers interpreting the trio’s cold world and embellishing it with their own words. Half of the songs on You Never End are made with vocal collaborators, and the collaborators are always placed front and centre of their tracks, rather than just allowed to become another layer of the miasma.” We appreciate the sort of experimental nature of this as well as the breadth of vocal collaborators featured. It was interesting, but just not good music. (Oct '24) |
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Saagara 3 From The Quietus: “In a globalised world, the word exotic has become increasingly loaded. What’s exotic to you may not be remotely exotic to someone on the other side of the world, and the whiff of orientalism and even primitivism is never far away. Nevertheless, 3 is exotic in its fusion of disparate elements: the occidental electronica of Polish musician Waclaw Zimpel and the Carnatic musical tradition of his four southern Indian collaborators. On their third album together – as it was with the previous two – the ancient and divine sit with the relatively modern and broadly secular. It makes for a wonderfully alien patchwork of sounds where the rich colours bleed into each other to create something vivid and unique.” This is a nice listen of sort of Indian inspired instrumentals. (Oct '24) |
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The Shovel Dance Collective The Shovel Dance From The Quietus: “Shovel Dance Collective’s raison d’être is to find hidden queer histories, feminist narratives and the stories of working people in old English, Irish and Scottish folk music. Into that bargain, they have exhumed plenty of misery lurking in the soil, with songs encoded with fascinating information; sonic documents that are their own kind of archeology. Passed down through oral tradition, and inevitably refashioned over the years, the haunting palimpsests of experience linger in these songs like ghosts. The collective have become adept at tapping into the bleakness, but also drawing out the hope and humanity.” We like this type of music – stuff you’d never hear on the radio unless it was a rogue DJ spinning obscure Celtic folk songs at 2am on a weekday. The vocal’s bassy baritone resonate as much as any of the other traditional instrucments here – the recorder, harmonium, drum or fiddle. (Oct '24) |
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Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld Christian & Mauro From The Quietus: “The Christian & Mauro of the title are the given names of Blixa Bargeld and Teho Teardo, of course. Dusting them off suggests that what we hear here will somehow skirt closer to the source – the essence of the men themselves. Rome-dwelling Teardo brings the sonics of his extensive back catalogue that has included the soundtracks for Paolo Sorrentino’s The Family Friend and the black comedy of his political masterpiece Il Divo, Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk, as well as collaborations since the 1980s with the likes of Girls Against Boys, Lydia Lunch and Nurse With Wound. His ability to move between cinema, composition in the classical tradition and artists who tend to work in more song-based formats seems to give Bargeld great freedom – throughout Christian & Mauro we hear him present in the manner to which we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. He approaches his art and lyricism in the aleatory manner that always keeps us guessing, marrying the abstract with wildly evocative images stored away in folders that he summons by the powers of divination.” German singy spoken word over some nice background, showtuney type sounds. (Oct '24) |
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Alan Sparkhawk White Roses, My God Another one of The Quietus's top 100 of 2024. Alan loves himself some autotune. This is basically pop songs with Alan signing on very aggressive autotune, which when it works for songs like "Heaven" are really good. But it starts to get a little too much when listening to the whole album on autotune. (Sept '24) |
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NONPAREILS CRhetoric & Terror Another of Quietus’ Best 100 of 2024, this one has nice production value, uses childrens toy chimes, but we’re finding the vocals sort of underwhelming and lost in the background of the mix. “Opening Chord” is a pretty decent song, but we’re not resonating with much else on this release. (Sept '24) |
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Sealionwoman Nothing Will Grow in the Soil From The Quietus: “Dark fables of sex and death offer a useful place to start with Sealionwoman. A London-based duo of vocalist Kitty Whitelaw and double bass player Tye McGivern, this pair are doing something entirely new by tapping into a rich seam of traditional folk. Their first album, 2018’s Siren, was all at sea, and set adrift, if you will. For the followup, Nothing Will Grow In The Soil, they’ve crawled onto the dark, desiccated land, and everything is firmer, harder, dryer.” We concur, we think this shit is great. Dark, minimalist until it suddenly isn’t. We can’t wait until the next dinner party when “Charcoal” comes on the playlist and, after 3 minutes of folks putting up with the mellow start everyone completely losses their shit halfway through the song when it turns heavy. (Sept '24) |
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Xiu Xiu 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips From The Quietus: “According to Xiu Xiu, the two motivating forces behind 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletti With Bison Horn Grips were “the destruction of previous aesthetic notions, as well as the band’s recent move from Los Angeles to Berlin”. It’s a typically Xiu Xiu mix of high drama and self-deprecation, but feels very true of the record, which reflects both a deliberate decision to try a different sound, and the more subtle, almost subconscious switches that can come from a change of location and perspective. Expansive post rock opener ‘Arp Omni’ aside, the album is industrial pop music, heavy synth glam, big riffs and capital letters.” At tunefilter HQ here, we haven’t been the biggest fans of Xiu Xiu in the past. It’s usually too frenetic for us without the moments of brilliance that, say a Deerhof would interject. For that reason, we probably resonate with ‘Arp Omni’ more than any other song on this one, but still wouldn’t put this on our heavy rotation. (Sept '24) |
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Dialect Atlas of Green We think it’s nice ambient soundscapes that, in addition to incorporating field recordings outright, mimic nature, making for enjoyable soundtrack to your Sunday mornings. (Sept '24) |
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Rex Orange County The Alexander Technique This is a bit of a weird mix of soulful R&B man crooning over folk songs, piano ballads, and showtune orchestrations. Not our cup of tea. (Sept '24) |
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Britt Warner The Ransom From the artist: “these tracks were created for the Song A Day For A Month challenge in January of 2021. Each one is improvised and unedited, using a Voice Live Touch 2 looper and one microphone, recording directly into Logic. Melodies, harmonies, and lyrics were all created on the spot, in the moment. That sort of trust-fall into the strong arms of the universe is, I believe, a natural feel we all possess and can tap into under the right circumstances. It's a much different process than "The Ransom" was, since I wrote and produced most of those songs over a longer period of time, worked with other musicians, etc. The Portal is straight from my heart to your ears.” This is a good album. We have Growing Up In Neverland, Revival, and Forgiveness on heavy rotation. (Sept '24) |
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Brama Brama We couldn't figure out what language they're singing in before noticing they are from central France, but we liked how The Quietus described this: “... rollicking power trio fusing folk with 70s hard rock, psych, krautrock ... there are few slow-building drones here; tracks like ‘La Bruma’ burst out of the speakers with such joyous intensity that you can’t help but be swept up in it ... they remind me of Mdou Moctar in the way that they revitalise hoary rock tropes through a combination of local flair, blistering musicianship and infectious enthusiasm.” (Sept '24) |
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Hamish Hawk A Firmer Hand We think Hawk, intentionally or not, is sort of a modern-day Morrissey. And we say this with all due respect, but the vocal tones, subject matter and phrasing of this release, and in particular songs such as “Questionable Hit” could be right off of Morrissey’s 1990 release Bona Drag. We like it! (Aug '24) |
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TORRES & Fruit Bats A Decoration This is a six-song EP created by Mackenzie Scott (TORRES) and Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats), both co-writing, producing, and mixing the project. We like both artists separately, albeit we find TORRES albums to be more scattershot - some great highs, some lows - where as Fruit Bats have a consistence quality throughout. We think Scott brought some of the inconsistances here. A Decoration and Pink Triangle are the stand out songs. (Aug '24) |
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Mavi Shadowbox From The Quietus: “Shadowbox, MAVI’s third album, is a doggedly direct and frequently morose examination of the lows of substance abuse and the depression that can be fuelled by addiction. Set against a bed of equally melancholic and bright, soulful beats, the North Carolina rapper’s lyrics are refreshingly candid as he speaks self-critically of taking Percocets (‘I’m So Tired’) and “pills while mum was making dinner” (‘Tether’), and addresses the long road to recovery and accepting help. It’s a journey that he’s still openly navigating now following the completion and release of Shadowbox, and for that reason, there are few overwhelming moments of salvation sprinkled across the record, but what you get instead is a bracing exploration of the flaws that many of us will see in our own selves as we navigate life.” We love our dark gloomy music, but maybe it’s the rote repetitiveness, this isn’t going to make our heavy rotation. (Aug '24) |
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Laura Cannell The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined From The Quietus: “Laura Cannell’s music shines a modern light on ancient melodies. The East Anglia-based composer draws on the tenets of early music to inform her works, capturing a spectrum of moods in the process. On The Rituals Of Hildegard Reimagined, Cannell looks to one of the beloved composers of medieval monophony, Hildegard von Bingen, for inspiration, crafting her own vignettes inspired by von Bingen’s spiritual melodies. Cannell’s tenth album builds on the composer’s prior work by continuing to showcase wafting music that feels like a refraction and reflection of the past.” These are simple instrumentals often of one or two basic instruments – e.g., a recorder, an oboe, the kalimba, or "thumb piano," maybe run through a little reverb and echo and that’s it. (Aug '24) |
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Mild Universe Everything Must Change Local SF band we noticed was playing a free show at the Rickshaw. This is sort elevator music, Kenny G of indie rock. (July '24) |
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Clairo Charm Pretty straightforward easy listening 70’s style pop vocal album. Very easy on the ears. (July '24) |
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D'En Haut D'En Haut This made The Quietus' Top 100 of 2024 list. They write: “The Pagans label and La Nóvia collective are two of the most crucial incubators of talent within the French folk scene, and with D’En Haut’s self-titled second album, they’ve helped to bring one of the year’s most compelling releases into the world...D’En Haut might well be this year’s French folk masterpiece." We like ole worldy, folk as much as anyone. We also generally like interesting percussion (hello tunng) such as "clacky, woody percussion, bells, drone and buzzing acoustic bass." We are not as sold on this as the Quietus. It’s okay at times for some background music but has a lot of grating moments. (June '24) |
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Xylitol Anemones From The Quietus: “It’s apt that Anemones looks to the lithographs of early biologists to communicate its ideas. Those images contain both discovery and a sense of an ancient throughline. Opener ‘Rosi’ introduces this aquatic world with squiggly percussion, deep bass and spliced loops. It creates images of bustling colonies of fish, or time lapses of primordial organisms gradually growing features. ‘Jelena’ balances languid atmosphere and speedy rhythms, its breaks cut up over patient pads. Those pads glitch and squeak when they’re played solo at the end. Like much early jungle, its base elements are no less cosmic when cobbled together from what’s lying around. Crucially, though the record uses elements that have existed since the early 90s, it remains forward-looking rather than doggedly nostalgic, as “revivalist” jungle and hardcore can sometimes be.” This is sort of drums & bass but with the bass replaced by bleeps and bips. Good for when the coffee isn’t working at keeping you awake. (July '24) |
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Tashi Wada What Is Not Strange? From The Quietus: “On What Is Not Strange?, Tashi Wada’s music curves, steepens and plateaus like a trail on the way to a vista. The Los Angeles-based composer’s drones continuously evolve; his fractured melodies stop before they’ve started or swerve into unexpected directions, collecting surprises along the way. Throughout, Wada uses an 18th-century tuning system developed by music theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau, which coats his glistening drones and broken-down songs in dissonance, and he works with vocalist Julia Holter, percussionist Corey Fogel, violist Ezra Buchla and bassist Devin Hoff. The alternate tuning allows for his music to expand beyond just the conventional stylings of his keyboard, while his collaborators help each track grow into kaleidoscopes built from the shards of each musical phrase. More than anything, though, What Is Not Strange? is an album about choosing one winding path and following it – even if it ends up somewhere previously unknown.” This is largely dark ambient instrumentals and good lonely late night listens. (June '24) |
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Senyawa Vajranala From The Quietus: “Vajranala is a masterclass in tension-building. It’s a journey that leads to ritualistic experiences, with subtly constructed lyrical structures on one hand and rapturous, predatory, and trance-like motifs on the other, often based around Wukir Suryadi’s homemade bambuwakir, a percussive and stringed instrument, that drives the duo’s music, creating an intense sonic experience. Senyawa’s music is a unique blend of traditional and modern elements. But on Vajranala, instead of synthesis, they extend their musical language by juxtaposing droning passages with rapt, ecstatic motifs, muttering, singing, and shouting. They seek catharsis in new forms of ritual by building this kind of modern heavy ritual in a dense, rapturous sound on the borders of what is traditional, what is metal, what is subtle, and what is rapture, showcasing their innovation and creativity.” We think this is not bad. But not something we see listening to on a regular basis. (June '24) |
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Gnod Spot Land We found lots of nice droney spacey rock in this one, from a group that is probably better known for, as The Quietus puts it, "purveyors of the sort of music that suits getting blasted and waving your arms around". Peace at Home and Luz Natural are great medatative pieces. (May '24) |
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British Murder Boys Active Agents and House Boys This may resonate better with us if we were on our 7th RedBull and Vodka at the club at 2AM. (June '24) |
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Bòsc Bòsc Nice Ole World Celtic folk feel to this one. Pretend you're a ambient artist creating soundscapes twiddling knobs and samples on your synths today but were suddently dropped back in 1450 Ireland. This might be what you create. We'll call it Celtic ambient. Background music that is interesting, and at times jarring enough to break into the foreground and leaving you trying to figure out what ancient culture the music is channeling. (May '24) |
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Wu-Lu Learning To Swim On Empty From The Quietus: “There’s an overwhelming feeling of emptiness that many of us can relate to at the moment – a feeling that weighs heavily in the context of surrounding events, becoming our everyday experience. It’s somewhat normal to be furious yet numb; profoundly sad yet totally void of the appropriate response mechanisms. In both the title and contents of his new EP, South London vocalist and musician Wu-Lu has managed to capture this emptiness, as well as the corresponding impulse to push through and find something to grasp firmly with both hands. Learning To Swim On Empty is intimate in its writing but the recurring motif of water and of drowning and floating which runs throughout makes it a record that holds both listener and artist close, in a compelling way.” At its best, this is spoken word over dark smokey jazz worth a late at night listen. (May '24) |
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Big Brave A Chaos of Flowers We pick up some Sigur Ros crossed with Low vibes from this one. There’s something about Wattie’s singing that, for us, doesn’t really seem to mesh with the wall of sound happening behind it. (Apr '24) |
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Jacken Elswyth At Fargrounds We really like this album. We sort of view it as this having the potential to do for bluegrass what William Taylor’s “Modern Country” did for country music.. (May '24) |
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Fat White Family From The Quietus: “As well as growing lusher, Fat White Family’s sound has become denser on their latest album thanks to several layers of carefully constructed multiple instrumentation, so pieces like ‘Polygamy Is Only For The Chief’ sound like a Prince impersonator fronting Depeche Mode. “Did you ever get the feeling that nobody’s listening for a very good reason?”, it asks. More people than ever might be drawn into listening now that, for instance, ‘Feed The Horse’ has a soaring chorus that would be suitable emanating from the mouth of Charlotte Church. The equivalent on ‘What’s That You Say’ is the catchiest earworm they’ve ever created.” Our take: The The recently came out with a new release a couple of months ago, but this was probably the The The 2.0 disc fans were waiting for. (Apr '24) |
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Bianca Scout Pattern Damage The Quietus likes her. They write "Steadily, unselfconsciously, and to a mystifying dearth of general acclaim, Bianca Scout has been fashioning a netherworld, its crevices inlaid with shards of her consciousness. The decade-stretching oeuvre which functions as the visible front for this hidden psychic reverse now comprises six albums, a strewing of singles and EPs... But to know her work, in full or in part, is to remain palpably distant from Bianca Scout, the persona and the person. She expresses herself with a sort of uncanny ingenuousness, a candour which communes with the emotions and perplexes more rational engagement. Revelations promptly dissipate on taking off the headphones, the fog of mystique gathers once more. Which is to say, listeners coming to her work for the first time through Pattern Damage need not feel underprepared; there are no privileged entry points." This feels like something we might write about The Exciting Sounds of Savo. Scout's music is probably just as approachable. (Apr '24) |
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Judas Priest Invincible Shield We were listening to this stuff in high school and loved it. Now, it just sounds like stuff you would … well, listen to in high school. (Mar '24) |
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Big Brave A Chaos of Flowers We pick up some Sigur Ros crossed with Low vibes from this one. There’s something about Wattie’s singing that, for us, doesn’t really seem to mesh with the wall of sound happening behind it. (Apr '24) |
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Roc Marciano Marciology From The Quietus: “No stranger to a self-referential album title – see Marcberg, Marci Beaucoup, Mt. Marci and other releases – cult underground rapper Roc Marciano’s latest project is an enthralling trip through lo-fi, low-key beats and his typically laidback, gruff vocal delivery. Like many of his past records, much of Marciology is produced by the rapper himself and folds in samples of, or references to, old jazz and soul records, while the sinister callback to classic Memphis horrorcore instrumentals on the opening cut is instantly absorbing. Tracks like the Blaxploitation-soundtrack-referencing ‘Goyard God’ and subtly eerie ‘Gold Crossbow’ underline just why Marci is credited as one of the most influential underground hip hop figures of the past decade or so. Perhaps with the release of Marciology, it’s about time he got his flowers more widely.” We’re digging the background beats/samples on “Higher Self”. (Mar '24) |
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Shelter Of The Opaque Vanishing From The Quietus: “Changing landscapes and our relationships with them are at the heart of Shelter Of The Opaque: as places evolve, where do we fit into those, and how does it affect both our sense of self and our relationship to the past? The passage of time also runs throughout the album. The start of the unsettling track ‘Castling’ recalls Gareth Smith’s roots in Hull, the call of home feeling ever present as he seeks to understand his past in the context of the present. The song is also one of several on the album that explores climate change too: the drones on the track sound like an electronic sea of sorts, and one that threatens to subsume its surroundings at any moment. An underlying ticking beat stresses how time is running out for the planet.” We’re game with the spoken word poetry over soundscapes, and find it an interesting listen, but probably prefer our dark ambient listens spoken word free so we can concentrate on our own in-our-head thoughts. (Mar '24) |
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Ex-Easter Island Head Norther From The Quietus: “On their previous, highly rhythmic album, Twenty-Two Strings, Ex-Easter Island Head pushed their musical boundaries, creating polyrhythmic structures and rushing motorik compositions. This evolution in their sound, reminiscent of the Glenn Branca Ensemble, among others, is further showcased on their latest release, Norther. After eight years, the band, now a quartet with the addition of Andrew PM Hunt (AKA Dialect), continue to draw from their unique methodology of playing guitars with mallets and sticks, painting sonic palettes at the intersection of minimalism and ambient music.” This is pretty decent ambient but at times energetic music. Frenentic and improvy at times it's not always a relaxing listen. (Mar '24) |
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Erika Angell The Obsession With Her Voice On The Obsession With Her Voice, Erika Angell creates her own universe out of her ever-changing voice. The Montréal-based artist cloaks her vocals in mystical haze, transforming them into alien reveries; she speaks poetry with scalding clarity; she sings melismatic songs that swirl around lush instrumentals. We think it's interesting, but not enough to grab us into repeated listening. (Mar '24) |
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Mohammad Syfkhan I Am Kurdish From The Quietus: “Mohammad Syfkhan’s impressive debut solo album, I Am Kurdish, was recorded in County Wicklow with musicians including County Sligo saxophonist Cathal Roche and Cork-based cellist Eimear Reidy. The record takes his domestic influences and fuses them with music from beyond those regions, from North African folk rhythms to Turkish psychedelia. It’s a glorious alembic not bound by borders, where Syfkhan himself brings a cultivated exuberance to his playing that belies his vintage.” We respect that this retains a lot of the Middle-Eastern vibe. We’ll certainly play it during our Middle-Eastern cooking evenings. (Feb '24) |
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William Doyle Springs Eternal A solid member of our "Early 2020s Sensitive Anglo Digital Composer Boys Who Mostly Use an Initial or Two Instead of their First Name" playlist. Although Doyle does use his first name, because he's not using "Bill", we'll still let him in. Like the other dudes in said playlist, we still believe he was likely the kid getting bullied in highschool rather than the bullier. This, Doyle's fourth album, is a great release. But how could we not say that of a Doyle release co-produced with Mike Lindsay of Tunng and featuring contributions from Brian Eno and others. Doyle describes the 11-track collection as "art-pop for the Anthropocene." Okay. We're still going with our absurd playlist title to describe it. "Soft to the Touch" is a fantastic song. Just a mellow little floater that rambles around like a digital cowboy on robotic horse in a Wes Anderson spaghetti western ... until 4 minutes in when it drops off a creshendoing digital cacohphony of sounds to hit the last verse with minimal instrumentation for a brief bit before building back up to a almost a yodelling ending. Spectacular! (Feb '24)  |
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Milkweed Folklore 1979 From The Quietus: “Folklore 1979‘s lyrics are lifted almost entirely wholesale from an issue of The Folklore Society’s academic journal, which Milkweed came across when a fan – who, incidentally, makes wands for a living and who they’ve never seen since – dropped a tote bag full of issues round their home. They picked one at random, chopped it up and put it to weird earworm melodies, fed it through a meat grinder of experimental production, and ruthlessly edited it down to just over ten minutes of running time. Occasionally, the album evokes experimental hip hop as much as it does folk music, although they outright reject any comparisons. They, for now, have coined the term ‘slacker trad’.” This is weird good stuff … sort of old world Celtic chants mixed with Chinese Erhu plucking over tribal drum beats. We can already see this pissing off some people at our next dinner party when “My Father’s Sheep is Dead” comes up next on the playlist. (Feb '24) |
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Nadine Shah Filthy Underneath From The Quietus: “There is a fine line to tread in any creative labour when opening up about your personal struggles. It’s delicate work to find how much honesty resonates with an audience and what becomes alienating. Nadine Shah navigates this rough terrain on her fifth album, Filthy Underneath, a record which deals with how, in a few very short years, she coped with the death of her mother, substance abuse, a suicide attempt, recovery and the end of her marriage. Any one of these topics could be completely overwhelming for listener and artist alike, but Shah’s control of the narrative makes her songs sound more confidential than confessional. She exercises the same incisive observational skills that she applied to songs about social unease and toxic relationships when she turns the lens on herself, as willing to be cutting, critical and humorous when she is her own subject.” This is a well done album, but nothing on here really sticks out for us. (Feb '24) |
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Chelsea Wolfe She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She From The Quietus: “Chelsea Wolfe’s music has always been admirably vulnerable and honest, qualities that are in even greater abundance on her latest album than they have been on her previous releases. The metaphysically themed She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is dominated by loud guitars and feels incredibly abrasive, not least because it follows a record of acoustic folk songs. It deals with how personal change can be achieved by our present selves communicating with our past and future ones.” We think fans of London Grammer should check this one out. (Feb '24) |
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Helado Negro Phasor This sort of Spanish pop-rock is a decent listen for us. With the possible exception of “Flores,” thought it’s probably nothing we feel we need to hear on heavy rotation. (Feb '24) |
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Bill Ryder-Jones Iechyd Da This album also made Quietus’ best 100 of 2024, but unlike a lot of other discs on that list, this one resembles music most people would normally listen to. It’s indie folk rock with a hint of celtic folk. We feel this is very similar in style as well as the hushed, throaty vocal performance as Goldenboy back in the aughts. (Jan '24) |
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Hi! CAPYBARAS A/M/Y/G/D/A/L/A/ Haunted synth and spoken word tracks that are great late night listening. (Jan '24) |